In this work the optimum microsprinkler system design is analyzed through optimization model using non linear programming, with the objective of minimizing operational and investment costs, for three sceneries of the water demand in two localities of the Northeast region of Brazil: Iguatu, Ceará State, with annual and monthly water balances, and João Pessoa, Paraíba State, with monthly water balance. The model has as decision variables: the lengths of the pipe sections with their respective diameters, the daily irrigation total time, the emission uniformity, the irrigation frequency and the emitter mean operation pressure. The results evidenced that in semi-arid climate areas, as Iguatu, there are not important differences in the design system with the demands obtained through the annual or monthly water balances. The investment cost was not affected by the demands, but just the operational and total system costs. Regions with smaller daily and annual water requirement, as João Pessoa, allow larger number of operational units of the system and, therefore, larger reduction of the investment cost. However, for same number of the subunit and operational units the water demands differences do not affect the design. The maximum daily water demand of the crop has larger effect on the hydraulic system than the annual water demand. The system with optimum design depends on the combined analysis of the subunit number and of operational units of the system and the energy cost should not be ignored.
evapotranspiration; microsprinkler; optimization model; costs; hydraulic
